Snowpiercer season 1 episode 3 recap: Access is Power

Snowpiercer episode 3 unveils more clues to the central murder mystery.

In Snowpiercer episode 3, Layton uncovers more clues about the mysterious informant’s murder. On the way, he also lifts the thin veil of civility that the Front has been hiding behind. All is not as it seems in the vaunted first few classes—and the killer may turn out to be the last person anyone expects.

Snowpiercer Episode 3: Secrets of the Front

Not only are the passengers in the front clueless about their privilege—and the fact that Melanie Cavill is actually Mr. Wilford—but they’re also incredibly self-centered.

Since the beginning of the Snowpiercer series, these passengers have been haranguing Cavill and her associate, Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright) about even the most minor inconveniences.

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The biggest offenders are the Folger family, whose fortune funded the train so now they believe everyone, including Wilford, should be beholden to them.

But there’s more to the Folgers than meets the eye—daughter LJ (Annalise Basso) has been sharing furtive glances with her bodyguard, Erik (Matt Murray). What does it mean? And why is he always around?

Clues to the Killer

Content warning: addiction

Layton and Till keep facing roadblocks every time they attempt to speak with Nikki Genêt, the woman who had been framed for the first murder on Snowpiercer. Genêt had been kept in the sleeper drawers as part of her sentence and her recovery isn’t going well—Layton and Till are told that she is still unconscious. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Far from coming out of sleep fully-functioning, she is completely out of it, and her body looks to be breaking down. Something is very wrong with her—and with the way Dr Henry Klimpt (Happy Anderson) has been running the sleeper car.

Till finally learns that Genêt is in fact awake—she asks her girlfriend, Jinju (Susan Park), who is also Cavill’s confidante. Looks like sneaky tactics are the only way to get ahead on this train.

The moment Layton sees Genêt, he immediately knows what the problem is—Genêt is suffering serious withdrawal symptoms from Kronole addiction. What has Dr Klimpt been doing in this car?

Cavill wants answers and isn’t happy when Klimpt opens up. He’s been trading access—a kind of embedded chip that gives passengers access to as-yet-unknown facilities—with a janitor for Kronole to use on the sleepers. Apparently, Wilford’s system for the sleepers wasn’t effective so Klimpt had to improvise. Now, a drug-addicted sleeper is desperately trying to get back to normalcy with nothing but Klimpt’s incompetence to guide her.

While all the sleeper car mistakes are unraveling, Layton learns that Miles is in the Front and demands to see him. The boy is doing well—he’s in a science class and is being well fed and taken care of. But despite his changed circumstances, Miles hasn’t forgotten his loyalties to the Tail.

Layton is proud, but he insists on also seeing Josie, Miles’ Tail mom and Layton’s partner. Cavill obviously puts her foot down about this—in the previous episode of Snowpiercer, Layton had unsuccessfully tried to get messages to the Tail. Who knows what he’ll do this time?

Discoveries Made at Fight Night

To keep the Front calm and distracted, Cavill prepones Snowpiercer’s annual Fight Night between residents of Third class. She also ups the stakes—the winner automatically gets moved to Second. Quite the prize.

Fight Night is also a great place to find the Kronole-dealing janitor—Layton needs to be there. Reluctantly, Cavill agrees.

Layton and Till arrive at a raucous party—the passengers from the Front are enjoying watching two Thirds beat each other silly. There appear to be no rules for this fight—why aren’t we surprised?

Also working that night is Zarah, Layton’s wife. The two had been in the Tail together till Zarah couldn’t deal with the life anymore—she left the Tail for the Nightcar, much to the derision of her fellow Tailies. As she left, Layton gave her his wedding ring—in case she needed to trade it for something.

Zarah never did—she traded her own ring to get by but always hung on to Layton’s. No longer—if Layton is to find out who killed Sean, he’s going to need to trade his ring for information and maybe more.

Fortunately for Layton, he’s not only a good detective but has connections who are willing to inform him of matters they wouldn’t tell anyone else. Zarah is one such informant—she points Layton to Terrence (Shaun Toub), the Kronole-dealer Layton has been looking for.

Terrence isn’t exactly open at first, but once Layton reveals that Sean was an informant for the Front, he begins to talk. He is indeed dealing Kronole—and not just to the Tail, but throughout the train and even to Klimpt. Then, Layton offers his ring in exchange for something, but that revelation is left for later.

Meanwhile, Till remains at the party only to find a spaced-out Genêt arrive. As Till tries to get her back to safety, a riot breaks out—the perfect distraction. But other people are very interested in Genêt’s presence—LJ and her bodyguard, Erik.

We soon learn why—Erik was the last person to speak with Sean, as revealed by Terrence. We don’t yet know if he killed Sean, but considering he kills two more crew members on his way to Genêt later that day, the signs certainly point to it.

While all that is going down, Layton finally convinces Cavill to let him meet Josie—in exchange for the information he’s learned. He uses the opportunity to tell Josie how much he cares for her and how he hasn’t seen her because he was hung up on Zarah. The two share a passionate kiss before being pulled apart. Cavill gets her information, but Josie gets something better—an access chip passed to her by Layton through the kiss. What will she do with it?

Final Thoughts on Snowpiercer Episode 3

Snowpiercer Episode 3 was far more engaging than its opening installments. We have a better understanding of the characters and the dynamic on board the train, which makes following the core aspects of the plot much easier.

There’s still not as much diversity as one would have hoped with this show, but there is room for improvement.

Plenty of twists and turns have already appeared in these first few episodes—one hopes the show isn’t burning through these too fast. There are still 7 episodes to go and hopefully, just as much story.

What did you think of Snowpiercer Episode 3? Did Erik kill Sean? And why would he do so? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Snowpiercer is currently airing weekly episodes on TNT and Netflix.